Retort



May'lO, 1932. J. N. VAND'EGRIFT RETORT Filed llarch 24, 1928 INVENTOR. lmasxl. Mandy ryf" A TTORNEYS.

Patented May 10, 1932` uNirEn sTATEs JAMEs N. VANDEGRIFT, or NEW YORK; ir. Y.', ssrenon 'ro marna-NATIONAL Brrnnnnoir. CORPORATION, oFNEwYoRigN. Y., A 'ooRroRA'rroNfor DELAWARE,

nnronr i Application filed March 24, 1928.v Serial No. 264,294. I w. I

tion Vthrough vline looking at the left The object of this invention istoprovide a retort for 10v;r temperature distillation of bituminous coals, lignites, oil sands, o1l shales, and other carbonaceous materlals.

In a co-pending application 'of Lars G. o

Nilson, Serial N o. 81,4:67 filed May 12, 1928, a retort is shown in which bituminous coking coals maybe treated successively in asingle tube, revolving retort provided with a vapor take-off and the zoning' of theheat in separate furnace chambers is' maintained. .The present'invention provides a tubular retort of the revolving. type of very simple'construction, in which the cylinder is rotated. by

direct, silent and efiicient propelling means.

Furthermore, in the present retort the revolving Chamber is heated progressively to different temperatures in different parts or zones thereof, without the use of an outer wall or Shell on the retort chamben- Instead, in the present retort the heat from the burners is local'ized, so that different portions of the cylinder may be heated to different temperatures, but the means for applying the heat Vto the cylinder is stationary ,and therefore does not need to revolve with the cylinder. In addition, heat equalizingmaterial which it was proposed to use between the double walled cylinders in previous constructions is eliminated in the present case.V

Another object of the invention is to provide simple and eflicient means for sealing the retort at the intake end to prevent the intake of air or the escape of vapors at the intake end. l also provide simple means for preventing the escape of vapors attthe dischai'ge end of the retort and 'I provide simple means for Cooling the coke or lignite char before it discharges from the air seal at the discharge end of the retort.

Other advantages and features will be set forth in the following detailed description of my invention.

In the drawings forming part of this application, o

Figure 1 is a Vertical, longitudinal sectional view of the present invention taken through the center thereof, Figure 2 is an end view thereof with sec In the drawings I have. shown a metal cylinderz'.v iwhich is revolvably mounted and which comprisesthe Chamber in which the material to Vbetreated travelsl and in which it is subjected to heat for the purpose of extractingthe volatiles therefrom This revolvable cylinder is inclined to the horizon- 'talso that thercarbonaceous material progress through. it 'bygravity while under i treatment and will be agitated by the turning overV of'the material. I have shown an vannularceye ring 11 attached adjacent the dis- Vcharge end of the revolving cylinder and this is mounted to-turn upon rollers lsuitably mounted in a'base or support 17. Adjacent the opposite end of thiscylinder there is a similar annular eye ring 11 which also rests upon therollerslarranged at opposite sides of the Vertical center of the revolving cylinder. z Instead of using an annular gear and a `pinion for revolving the cylinder, the annulareye ring 11 `has a smooth exterior and the rollers 12 also have smooth exteriors; and one Vor more of these ,trunnions is or are driven to Vpropel, `the cylinder by rolling contact. This eliminates the ;noise and vibration which is present whenever ,a cylinder o f this7 type is driven through a pinion Operating on an annular gear cn the cylinder. In the presentl case I have shown a worm gear V144 mounted on the shaft 13 .ofone of the rollers and this worm gear Vis .operated ,by means of a worm 15 arrangedon the shaftof `the motor 16. The power of the motor pis, therefore, transmitted through the worm 15 to the worm gear 14 andthus to one of the rollers 12; and there is sufiicient traction between this and the annular ring 11v to cause the retort cylinder to be revolved; o

The cylinder-.7 is enclosed bya stationary structure, preferably lof fireb'rick, comprising a top wall 30,-preferably of arched' shape, side walls -50 and Va bottom wall or base 31. These -walls are of larger interior, shape than the enclosed cylinder, so that there is provided below the cylinder the chambers 33, in which combustion takes place, and these chambers are di- Vided ofl' into zones or sections lengthwise of the retort cylinder by means of vertical dividing walls 51, the upper curved edges of which lie adj acent to but not in contact with theouter surface of .the cylinder 7 A These walls 51 extendfiupwardly and partly around the cylinderV but the space 52 above these walls is continuous, the full length of theV cylinder between the laterally extending end wall 52 of one end of-z the cylinderand the laterally extending wall 53 near the opposite end of the cylinder. V

The present device is preferably heated by combustion from oill or' gasjburners and for this purpose 1 have shown the burner 36 projecting'through onel of the side'walls at Van oblique 'angle so that the jet or Vflame from 'plates Vare arcuate in Shape2 so that they lie "concentric with the ;revolvmg' cylinder and are Vspaced-therefron'i to providea spacel.

"These plates may be formed with interlocking edges das shown in the drawings, so that they maybe made up in Sections for convenient assembly. They rest on the abutments 35 Vformed in theffire chambers 33 and some of 'them rest in recesses 38 formed in the Vertical dividing walls 51. At one side these 'plates, as shownat rest against one of the side walls 50 of the enclosing structure, so that the flame projected byithe burner 36 into the space between the bottom 31 and the rotectingV plate, 34 is caused to pass un er and around the protecting plate, so* that the products of combustion pass partly around the lrevolving cylinder indirect contact 'with the protecting plate before 'coming into direct contact with the revolving cylinder. -The opposite edge of the protecting plate is sepa- 'rated from the side Vwall 51, as shown atv 56,

so' that the products of combustion mayat this point pass intogthe annular space 54 as well as into the space 52 between the upper portion'of the revolving cylinderand the arched enclosing top wall 30. ,The products of combus'tion in traversing the under side .of theprotecting plate 34', give up considerable heat to this plate which conducts the heat to the air in the intermediate space '54 which gives up 'itsheat to the revolving cylinder.

By the time these products of combustion pass from the protecting plate at the point 56 and come into direct contact with the outer surface of the cylinder, suflicient heat will have been given up by these products of combustion torpermit them to come into direct contact with the cylinder and not scale or otherwise damage the surface of the cylinder. The vproducts-of combustion from the several ,combustion chambers 33 mergein the spaee and travel over the upper'portion of the cylinder in the O-ppOSite direction to 'the travel of the carbonaceous material in Vthe cylinder, and these proclucts of combustion escape through the flue or chimney 42. The burners 36 are provided for each of the fire-chambers 33 but they are so' designed that greater temperature will be created in theV ,chamber 33 adj acent the discharge end of the vcylinder and in the next fire chamber a lesser" temperature will be maintained, and in the fire Chamber 33 at the left in Figure 1, a temperatu're lwill be maintained which isV lower than that in theother chambers. Regardless of the' number of these fire chamberS, they willV ,be maintained at progressively different temperatures. rhis maybe accomplished byV either having a greater number of burners '36 inthe first fire chamberzand fewer in the succeeding'ones, or burners of larger ca-l.l`

pacity may be provided in the end Chamber 33 and burners of'lesser capacity in theV succeeding ones. V

I'Vprovide 'means in the present case for -zoning the heat; that is to say, 'for permitting'fJ different po-rtions of the cylinder to be hea-ted and maintained at relatively different temperatures in order that the material under treatment may be raised in temperature in stages or degrees while traveling through thei-'O revolving cylinder. In the present case I have shown an air flue 57 which is formed first in one of the side lwalls 50 and in each dividing wall 51 and at'the other side of the retort this merges with thevertical fiue 58passing up-'T-310 wardly through one of the side walls 50 and discharging at the. top of the retort. iAny form of air damper 59 may be provided at the intake end of this air'fiue to regulate the flow of air therethrough. At the point under the 531 U center of the cylinder I have shown a metal-i lic plate 60 forming a thin wall between the flue 57 and the annular space 5a surrounding the retort cylinder, to permit rapid conduc-FEO tion 'of cool air passing through the flue 57` to the cylinder.V VVhen the device is in operation, airccirculates through the flue 57 which is intermediate each of the several fire chambers 33 and the Cooling action. of this 1'25 air prevents the heat from one fire Chamber from passing to an adj acent fire Chamber and by this means I am able to zone the heat, or, in other words, control its application to the cylinder in such manner that difl'erent portions of the cylinder may be maintained at different temperatures.

The carbonaceous material to be treated is introduced into the hopper 1, so that it falls into a tubular device 2 which projects through the end wall or head 9 of the revolving cylinder. There is a screw conveyor 3 arranged in this tubula-r member for forcing the carbonaceous inaterial through the tubular member to discharge it into the revolving cylinder, but the end of this screw conveyor terminates some distance behind the eXtreme inner end of the tubular member 2 so that the carbonaceous material will pile up in this tubular member, as shown at 6, beyond the end of the screw conveyor and form a seal which will prevent air from entering within the cylinder and also prevent the escape of the vapors evolved, at this end of the cylinder. This is one of the novel features of the present device. The screw conveyor 3 is mounted upon a shaft Li which projects through the front wall of the hopper and is provided with a sprocket 5 which may be operated by a chain from any source of power, not shown.

IThe discharge end of the revolving cylinder extends through a circular opening in the wall of a collecting chamber 20 in which' the Volatiles evolved from the carbonaceousinaterial collect and from which they are 'discharged b-y a pipe 21 into a suitable condenser, not shown, or into any other receiving means. The collecting Chamber 20 extends downwardly below the level of the cylinder and it is shaped to provide a liorizontal Chamber G1 in which the coke, lignite char or residue material falls as it passes out of the end of the cylinder. Within this discharge Chamber I have shown an endless conveyor 22 which travels around spaced `pulleys 23 which may be eperated by power applied to the shaft of one of these pulleys. `rl`he discharge end of the Chamber 61 comprises a downwardly directed portion G2 into which the spent inaterial falls from the conveyor 22 and the lower end of this` portion is closed by a. valve 25 pivoted on a pin and held normally closed by a weight 63 until such time as the weight of the material accumulated on the valve 25 overcomes that of the weight 63 and opens the valve to discharge the spent material.

The discharge Chamber 61 is mounted in a tank 27 and the space surrounding the Chamber is filled with water 64 or other cooling medium, the water being caused to circu- .carbonaceous material and drop it, so that it will be agitated, andall portions will be subjected to the heat transmitted to the cyl- Vating through the machanisrn described.

The carbonaceous material to be treated is fed from the hopper 1. by the screw conveyor 3 into the receiving end of the cylinder, and x'151 then the material travels by gravity through the cylinder to the discharge end. The spent material falls onto the conveyor 22 and is conveyed by the latter e into the discharge member 62, the material being cooled by the action of the water 64 in the tank 27 before it is discharged into the open air. The vapors evolved from the material collect in the chamber 20 and are conducted elf by the pipe 21. When the carbonaceous material enters the receiving end of the cylinder it is heated to a degree which will be slightly below the Volatilizing temperature and as it progresses along the retort it is subjected to greater heat so that by the time it arrives near the discharge end of the retort it'will have been raised to a temperature which will cause the rapid or almost instantaneous separation of the volatiles. The progressive heating lof the material is effected by reason of the pro-1.95 gressively higher temperatures produced by the burners in the several compartments 33 and the heat from these several burner compartments will be confined to a great eXtent within certain zones by reason of the divid-' ing walls 51 and by reason of the air circulating through the flues 57 as required.

I have shown an adjustable packing ring 10 carried by the header 9 of the cylinder which surrounds the feed tube 2 and preventsz the escape of vapors or the entry of exterior air at this point. Preferably, the rollers 12 are mounted on antifriction or ball bearings, so that the cylinder may be revolved with the least resistance. The dampers 59 may be. regulated to control the flow of cool air through the cross flues 57 in order to prevent the substantial conduction of the heat from one heat zone to another along the retort cylinder. Flames from the burners travelingzll under the protecting plates 34 have suflicient travel so that they lose enough heat before coming into contact with the retort cylinder, and this prevents the direct fiame from striking the cylinder and, therefore, prevents de-- terioration by scaling.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A retort including an inclined, revolvable retort cylinder through which the1na--125 terial to be treated travels, means forming an enclosing structure surrounding said cylinder and spaced therefrom, said structure forming a fire compartment under said cylinder, means for dividing said fire compart-` Inent laterally of said cylinder to forml Va plurality offire chambers lengthwise of the cylinder, conibustionmeans in said fire chambers and protecting plates arranged between the combustion means and the lower portion of said revolvable cylinder, said plates being space'd from and substantially Vconcentric with said cylinder and 'arranged to permit the products of coinbustion to pass into direct contact with the upper portion of said cylinder after traversing the under side of said plates. i

2. A retort including an inclined, revolvable retort cylinder through which the material to be treated travels, means forming an enclosing structure surrounding said cylinder and spaced therefrom, said structure forming` a compartment under said cylinder, lateral dividing walls for dividing` said compartment into a plurality of fire chambers, said di'v'iding` walls having fiues for the circulation of aV Cooling medium therein and conibustion means in said several fire chambers for heating said revolvable cylinder.

8. A retort includingfian inc'lined, revolvable retort cylinder through which the material to be treated travels, means forming an enclosing structure surrounding said cylinder' and spaced therefrom, said structure forining a. compartment under said cylinder, lateral walls for dividing said compartment into a, plurality of separate fire chambers, said dividing walls having fiues therein for the circulation of afcooling medium, combustion means in said fire chambers and protecting plates arranged between said combustion means and the lower portion of said reVolvable cylinder for preventing the direct contact of the flames with the lower portion of said cylinder.

4.. A retort including an inclined, revolvable retort cylinder through which the material to be treated .travels, means forming an enclosing structure surrounding said cylinder and spaced therefrom, said structure forming a compartment under said cylinder, later-al walls for dividing said compartment into a plurality of separate fire chambers, said walls having air fiues therein, dampers for regulating the circulation of air in said flues, combustion means in said fire chambers, and protecting plates arranged between the combustion means and the lower portion of said revolvable cylinder for preventing the direct contact of the fiames with the lower portions of the cylinder.

Signed at the city, county and State of New York, the 20th day of February, 19287.

J AMES N. VANDEGRIFT. 

